Prediction markets are fascinating financial instruments which have proven to be accurate at making predictions on things like the outcome of elections, geopolitical events and sporting events. But in our heavily regulated financial world, they are the subject of much controversy. In 2013 for instance, a well-known US prediction market, Intrade, was forced to shut down following a civil suit filed by the CFTC. While some people consider prediction markets to be a useful tool for society, others consider them to be a form of gambling, which is one of the reasons why they have been met with such resistance in certain countries. A purely decentralized prediction market would operate outside the scope of the regulated financial world and be resistant to censorship and outside intervention. We're joined by Joey Krug, Co-Founder and Core Developer at Augur, a decentralized prediction market built on Ethreum. The project, which was initially meant to be a Bitcoin sidechain, has ported to Ethereum and is currently in beta on the Testnet. Users can forecast real-world events, such as the outcome of the US election, and earn profits if they are accurate in their predictions. Reporting on events is crowdsourced using a consensus-based system similar to proof-of-stake. Topics we discussed in this episode : How prediction markets workThe controversy around prediction marketsThe Augur project and what it is trying to achieve The evolution of AugurThe different components of Augur Reporting on events and the reputation tokenSecurity, attack vectors and how they can be mitigatedAugur's business model The ethical aspects of prediction marketsAugur's structure and governance Links mentioned in this episode: AugurAugur Git RepoAugur DocsEB139 ?'" Martin K?ƒppelmann: Gnosis ?'" The Ethereum Prediction MarketEB97 ?'" Paul Sztorc: Truthcoin & Prediction Markets, From Information-Overload To Crowd IntelligenceEB98 ?'" Robin Hanson: Futarchy, Prediction Markets And The Challenge Of Disruptive TechnologyEB141 ?'" Ralph Merkle: Revolutionizing Democracy Using DAOs Sponsors: Jaxx: Wallets that Unify the Blockchain Experience Across Devices JAXX.ioLedger Nano: Smart card security for your Bitcoins - Get 10% off your first order when you use the code EPICENTER at ledgerwallet.com Show notes YouTube SoundCloud Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, S?ƒbastien Couture & Meher Roy.Visit our websiteSubscribe to our newsletterTwitter